Haunted House Business Advice from the Experts

Episode 59
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December 11th, 2013
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28 mins 7 secs

About this Episode

Want to get started in the haunted house business? Looking for low-cost yet high-impact ways to improve your haunt? Want to learn how you can grow your haunted attraction into a full-year business? This week's podcast features a Q & A with haunted house experts Cydney Neil, Mike Krausert, and ScareHouse Creative Director Scott Simmons (recorded earlier this year at the West Coast Haunters Convention.)

Cydney Neil is the Producer and Creative Director of the legendary Rocky Point Haunted House, one of the most iconic and successful haunted attractions in history. Under her direction Rocky Point went from 100 guests and $500 in income to nearly 70,000 and over $1,500,000 in their final season—while also influencing and inspiring legions of haunted attraction designers. Apart from these successes, Cydney maintains that her greatest achievement and what she is most proud of is the youth program she created that changed the lives of thousands of “misfit” kids she will always consider her own.

Mike Krausert, Director of Spookyworld/Nightmare New England, began designing and building attractions over two decades ago at the age of 18. Throughout his career he has designed and built for numerous charitable organizations such as the Jaycees, non-profit arts programs, the Optimist Club and he helped these groups raise millions of dollars in the process. The producers of ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition invited him to lead the scenic design team for their first ever Halloween episode where the haunt “Nightmare Factory” was redesigned, re-themed, and modernized to improve fundraising for the Oregon School for the Deaf.

Special thanks to everyone involved with the West Coast Haunters Convention for hosting such a fantastic event, and for inviting Cydney, Mike, and Scott to attend! Yinz guys rock! Visit www.westcoasthauntersconvention.com for more information about next year's gathering.

ScareHouse, Pittsburgh's Ultimate Haunted House, has been ranked as one of “America’s Scariest Halloween Attractions” by Travel Channel and featured in multiple online and print publications including USA TODAY, Forbes, AOL News, Yahoo, Funworld, and Money magazine.

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